


His Favorite Meal

by idontknowwhyimawake



Series: The World of Merlin [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur dies at the beginning, But he comes back, F/M, Gaius is like Merlin’s dad and this is facts, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Merlin’s really old by the end of this, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27806005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontknowwhyimawake/pseuds/idontknowwhyimawake
Summary: Gaius would set out Merlin’s favorite meal for him everyday, even though he knew deep down he wasn’t returning to Camelot.That doesn’t mean they won’t see each other again, however.*part of it’s in the afterlife, the other part is when everyone is alive*
Relationships: Freya/Merlin (Merlin), Gaius & Merlin (Merlin), Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: The World of Merlin [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033875
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	His Favorite Meal

Something was in the air. Whether that something be hope, grief, or defeat, was up to those it surrounded.

There was no wind. No rain. No clouds. In fact, the sky was perfectly blue, as if nothing bad was happening. Almost as if the king of Camelot wasn’t dying in front of Gaius’s very eyes.

He had treated Arthur as a child for many wounds. Most of them were small, like a broken arm or a bruised wrist. As the boy got older, he started coming to Gaius with much more serious injuries, and sometimes Gaius would wonder if the boy would make it through the night. Arthur always did though. He was the future king, and fate would not allow him to die before he was ready, but now it appeared as though Arthur’s time was nearly up.

“You know I was betrayed,” Merlin said solemnly. The boy he once had been was no more. Merlin had grown into a man who trusted very few people, and at times Gaius truly wondered where along the road Merlin had taken in life, had he messed up. “The girl, Eira, cannot be trusted.”

Gaius knew this. Of course Gaius knew this. But he did not know this before the young girl had betrayed them. Perhaps if he had, then they would not be in this situation. “I know.”

“How long does he have?” Merlin asked his mentor, his voice scarily calm, almost as if he truly had not accepted the fact that Arthur would die. Gaius did not have the heart to break it to the boy he thought of as his son, that his friend, his best friend, would not live to see the next full moon.

“At best, two days,” Gaius said gravely. How had it come to this? How had Morgana become a woman so full of hatred that she gave a mere teenager a sword that would kill Arthur? Then again, Merlin and Morgana were also only teenagers when their journey began. “Merlin,” Gaius spoke, and he waited for Merlin to turn to face him. “I’ll have your favorite meal waiting for you.” There were a few unspoken words there. Words that would say ‘if you return.’ Because truth betold, Gaius did not know if he would see Merlin again. He hoped he would, but hope is but a feeling, and it does not guarantee anything. “Now go. Look after him.” Merlin seemed to hesitate, and perhaps he felt the same feeling Gaius felt, as if they would not be seeing each other again. Now for many lifetimes. “Go!”

With that, Merlin and Arthur took off on their horses, with no wind against their backs and no rain to soak their clothing. Gaius watched as the boy and his king rode their horses off into the trees, and he kept watching until they disappeared and did not reappear.

☆ ☆ ☆ 

The King was dead. Morgana was dead. Mordred was dead. Gwaine was dead. And Merlin, poor, poor, Merlin, was nowhere to be seen.

The coronation was held for Gwen a month after the battle of Camlann. Nobody could bring themselves to admit that Arthur was truly dead, but Gaius knew the state of the king, and he knew he had told Merlin the truth. Arthur had only had two days at best to be healed, and if he had truly been healed, then Merlin never would’ve let the king be away from Camelot for more than a week. No matter how far away they were. 

Gaius knew that Gwen was still expecting Arthur and Merlin to walk through palace gates, even after she had gone through with the coronation. He knew that she was expecting Merlin to show up, telling her that something had gone wrong, but his magic had still managed to save Arthur in the end. A part of Gaius was hoping that would happen as well, he hoped that one day Merlin would come and give his mentor a hug, and apologize for making him worry so much, and they would laugh at something idiotic Merlin would say, just as they had done in the earlier years. But that never happened.

As the years passed on, many things changed throughout Camelot.

Magic was officially legalized after two years of people starting to practice it again. Gaius suspected that Gwen would have legalized it sooner, had she not been filled with such grief.

Despite the people of Camelot persisting, Gwen never remarried. The knights of the round table that had been close to Arthur, such as Percival and Leon, made sure that no man would dare to think about marrying her unless she gave her full consent, to which she never did.

Gaius could understand why the thought to remarry never crossed her mind. After Alice had died, he never bothered with looking for another woman to marry, as he knew that he would love no woman the way he loved her.

The Queen and her knights got word many times about sightings of Merlin, but they never chased after him. They all knew he would return to Camelot whenever he felt it was right to return, and they could not push him.

However, once on visit to a neighboring kingdom, Sir Leon told Gaius that he could’ve sworn he saw Merlin in the market, and that the warlock had run away from him. Gaius didn’t doubt it. He knew the kingdom they were visiting was one close to a cave in which a dragon had been spotted in one time. Gaius suspected Merlin been staying with Kilgurrah and Aithusa for some time now, and this only confirmed him suspicions.

Gaius grew older as the years passed on, and as his mind began to deter, the Queen hired a physician, very reluctantly might Gaius add.

He was still allowed to have his chambers in the palace, as a new chamber had been constructed for the younger physician, and for that Gaius was grateful.

Every day Gaius would have Merlin’s favorite meal made, and he would set it down in front of the seat Merlin used to occupy. Some nights Gaius stayed up until either Sir Leon or Sir Percival came and told him to get rest. This started out only happening once a month, but eventually the two knights would have to visit Gaius daily in order to get him to bed.

Gaius never went back to the room that used to be his before Merlin arrived. He couldn’t bear to be in the room without the boy himself. Gaius never cleaned the room either. He had decided that when the boy got back his punishment for worrying him so much would be cleaning his room.

It was seven years after the death of Arthur, that Gaius’s time to leave came as well. It was Sir Leon that ended up finding the man dead. He had been going to tell him to sleep as he so often did, when he noticed the man that seemed to be like a grandfather to all of Camelot was dead. 

He was sitting in the chair across from Merlin’s, and a plate of what had once been Merlin’s favorite meal rested in front of him.

A grand ceremony was held for Gaius, and only those that were too young to know the physician did not attend. Many members of noble and royal families attended as well, remembering how Gaius’s remedies used to help them when they were visiting.

Gwen sent Percival out to find Merlin the day after Gaius’s death in order to tell him the news, but the knight was never able to find him, as Gaius had never told anybody where he suspected Merlin of staying.

Some that attended the funeral could’ve sworn that they saw a figure wearing a red scarf, but that figure never made any effort to go and give the queen their condolences, and the minute she thought she had seen the figure herself, it seemed to vanish into thin air.

The chambers Gaius and Merlin had once shared were never cleaned out for somebody new to enter. Nobody had the heart to do it themselves. 

Gwen had once tried to clean them by herself, but only an hour into the clean Leon found her collapsed on the floor crying, holding what seemed to be an old remedy that had probably expired over ten years ago. It was fairly obvious that the remedy was used for Morgana when she had suffered from nightmares. Anybody who had known the young witch when she lived in Camelot knew exactly what the remedy looked like, and it being a few years overdue didn’t change the red color of it.

The citizens had no idea that, throughout their grief, an old man still wandered the streets of the town, looking after the people he viewed as family.

Years passed once again, and soon enough Gwen was frail and old. People began to move out of Camelot, not being able to bear the sight of their queen rotting right in front of their years. By the time she had died, few people still remained in Camelot, and with her death, those few remaining left.

No other kingdoms bothered to take the throne. Many people had suspected that a special warlock who used to roam the streets of Camelot had insured nobody would take Camelot’s throne until the time was right, and when a couple of teenage boys stumbled across a rock holding the sword of the great Arthur Pendragon, the people knew they were right.

It wasn’t until many years after the queen's death, that a pair of feet stepped onto Camelots grounds again. These feet were familiar to the kingdom and knew their way around every part of it.

They seemed to walk to every part of the kingdom and as they walked through the pathways, cracks that had formed in the houses seemed to repair and flowers seemed to bloom in the fields and meadows. 

The person stopped at what had once been a jousting ring, and after that they visited the sword fighting arena, taking an extra minute to stare at what would’ve been the King’s seat.

They walked throughout the abandoned town and stopped by an old house in which an old friend had once lived in, before she found love and was moved into the palace. They stopped by the tavern that they visited so many times in an effort to make an old friend happy. They even walked down, passed the dungeons, and into an old cave that had a long set of chains attached to the ground that had been cut with a sword made in fire.

As they walked through the kingdom, an old man, a queen, and four knights followed him, wanting to comfort him as he stalled in places that he had once passed by everyday.

Eventually he found himself in the chambers he shared with the man he considered to be a father.

Merlin walked up the stairs to his old room, and found that despite his mind had aged, his room certainly hadn’t. His dirty old clothes were still spewed across the room, and one by one, he began to pick them up and sort them into his old cabinet. Merlin found his old spellbook exactly where he had left it. Hidden in a spot in the floorboards. 

It wasn’t until Merlin awoke the next day that he discovered his favorite meal, sitting right in front of his old chair. Merlin gave a faint smile, picked up the food, muttered out a spell, and watched as the mold of the food faded away and began to appear as though it had just been cooked. It smelled that way too.

Merlin stayed in Camelot only for a few weeks before he left again, but throughout his stay his mentor and friends never left his side once, and if anybody were to ever ask Merlin if he had felt their presence with him, he would’ve without a moment's hesitation, said yes.

Arthur, as legend predicted, once again rose. 

Gaius watched as the smile on Merlin’s face finally returned, and as he stopped taking the aging potion. Gaius watched with glee as Merlin once again transformed into the age he had been when Arthur had died and had crushed Merlin’s soul.

Gaius then saw the two old friends bring about Albion and returned magic to the land, and started to teach people of it’s uses and that it can truly be used for good. 

As more people began to use magic, the unexplainable happened. Merlin began to age. He didn’t very fast, like aging ten years in two weeks. No, Merlin aged with Arthur, and this time he didn’t need an aging potion in order to appear old.

When Merlin officially turned 60 years of age, Gaius began to fix his favorite meal again. He didn’t sit by Merlin’s seat everyday this time. Instead he went on with his time in the afterlife, and began to see Alice again. It was long overdue, and the two were madly in love.

He could wait to see his son a few more years.

☆ ☆ ☆ 

“Merlin!” Arthur’s snappy voice caused Merlin’s eyes to open once more. “Where the hell are we?” Gods, even after 1500 years, Arthur was still demanding Merlin to answer questions he couldn’t. Sometimes he wondered why he missed his formed king so much. “Merlin?”

Merlin rolled his eyes and sat up to take a good look at their surroundings. They were surrounded by trees and bushes, and a lake that had a large white mountain rested just beyond the lake. 

“Merlin!” Arthur whined.

“Well if you would stop being a clotpole for five minutes I might be able to figure out where we are,” Merlin snapped at his friend. Truly, he loved Arthur, but he was so annoying.

“You didn’t seem to think I was a clotpole when you came running to hug when I was still soaking wet from that lake,” Arthur retorted.

“Oh, will you just shut up Arthur?” Now that Arthur was no longer officially his king, Merlin felt as though he could speak his mind much more freely. Not that he hadn’t been speaking freely back in the days of Camelot. “You’re honestly such a—”

“Merlin?” A soft, gentle voice, called out. The voice came from the lake, and when Merlin moved his focus to where it came from, he found a young, beautiful girl sitting on top of a rock, staring at him, a large welcoming smile on her face.

“Freya?” Merlin muttered, not being able to believe his eyes.

“Freya?” Arthur repeated. “As in the cursed druid girl that you loved that I killed?”

Merlin couldn’t bring himself to speak, so he simply nodded. 

Freya’s wide blue eyes seemed to sparkle with joy, and no anger or resentment appeared in them, even after Arthur spoke of her curse. “Hello Arthur Pendragon. It has been some time now, has it now?”

“How are you here?” Arthur asked her.

“Freya, you— you died,” Merlin said softly. “Over 1500 years ago.”

Freya nodded solemnly, as if she had already known this. But if she already knew this, why was she acting so calm? “Yes,” she said. “I did.”

“Then how—” that’s when Merlin noticed Arthur’s clothes. He was no longer wearing a— what had he been wearing? That’s right! A hospital gown. He was now wearing what he had once worn when he went into battle, with his red cloak hanging off his shoulders, and his crown sitting on his head. “Oh Gods.”

“What is it?” Arthur asked, not yet noticing his own attire. “And Merlin, why in the Gods name are you wearing that dreadful red scarf?”

Merlin reached for his neck, and just as Arthur had said, his old red scarf laid, resting on him. He locked his with Freya. Beautiful Freya. Whom he had fallen for after only knowing her for a few days. Who he had planned to run away with. Who had been cursed. Who had died in his arms, by a lake as beautiful as she, with mountains that rested just beyond the lake, exactly like the lake the sat by at that exact moment looked like. “We’re dead, aren’t we?”

Freya vanished into thin air, then reappeared next to Arthur, who gave a loud yelp. The happy, yet solemn look in his lovers eyes told him everything he needed to know.

Merlin could not decide whether he should cry tears of sadness, or tears of joy. He eventually settled for both. To his surprise it was not only Freya who enveloped him in a hug. 

Arthur hugged him as well, with a smile on his face. This one was not one to mock Merlin, and he did not tell him that crying was for girls as Merlin had expected him to. Instead, a sense of understanding seemed to pass on the king's face, almost as a way of showing Merlin that it was okay to cry about this. That Merlin had been alive 1500 years, awaiting death, and he more than deserved to cry about this.

When Merlin pulled away from his friend and his lover, he was even more shocked to discover that there were tears on Arthur’s face as well. “You get to go home, Merlin,” Arthur said, tears running down his face. “You can finally go home and rest.”

Yes, Arthur was a prat, and spoiled, and stubborn, but he understood. He understood how long Merlin had been waiting to see everybody, and that while he had finally seen Arthur again, he was ready for his other friends. He was ready to let go of the giant burden that had been resting on his shoulders since he first arrived in Camelot.

“You both can,” Freya spoke up, her hand still fiercely holding onto Merlin’s, as if she let go of him he might go back to the land of the living and leave her again.

“Where is everybody?” Merlin asked her, though a part of him already knew the answer.

“Would you like me to take you to them?” Freya asked him, her smile becoming wider.

Merlin nodded, and wiped away his tears, though his face was still wet. Freya began to lead the two friends away from the lake that had once been the burial spot for two of Merlin’s closest friends, and the only friends that had known he had magic, and led them to a pathway in the forest that was covered in beautiful flowers. There, three horses were waiting for their riders to arrive.

“How—” Merlin spoke, but was cut off.

“It’s the afterlife Merlin,” Arthur said, a small, shaky laugh to his voice. “Best to not question it.”

Merlin helped Freya onto her own horse, then gradually got on his own. “Lead the way m’lady.”

Freya gave a small laugh, and Arthur gave a loud groan, but followed her as she led them down the beautiful path. It was not until they had been riding for several minutes that Merlin truly realized where this path was heading. In the days he rode this path, it was one of only dirt and rocks, and now that it was covered in such beauty, it seemed harder to recognize. The path was leading to—

“Camelot,” Arthur breathed, as he took in the sight of his kingdom.

The kingdom seemed to have grown ten times its size, and the houses that had once been but mere cottages were now grand homes with fancy lights and decorations. The Camelot of the afterlife looked very different, but that warm fuzzy feeling that Merlin used to feel when returning after days spent away still entered him.

As they rode up the path, people began to stop and stare as their king and their warlock had finally come home. When they reached the gates to the palace, new guards where found to have been stationed there. 

“Who on Earth are they?” Arthur asked, his eyes lingering on the guards, who stayed unmoving.

“This is the afterlife, sire,” Freya said, not even blinking as she explained. “Those that do not wish to work are not forced to, and may have a home to appear however they desire without having to work for it.”

“It makes sense,” Merlin murmured, still taking in that fact he had finally died.

When the got off their horses, it was dark, but candles still lit up the courtyard. Nobody was there.

“Follow me,” Freya said, taking Merlin’s hand once again, and dragging him up the stairs of the palace.

Merlin almost told her to be careful, and that somebody might see them, but he then remembered how Freya was no longer in danger of being killed and she could enter the palace as she wished.

While Merlin was still wondering where Freya was taking them, Arthur seemed to have caught on by now and raced ahead, and this only caused Freya to pick up her own speed in order to get to where they were going.

In a few seconds, they had caught up with Arthur, and stood in front of a giant pair of doors. Doors that had once led to a room where extravagant feasts were held and marvelous parties had taken place.

Arthur seemed to have hesitated, almost as if he were wondering as if this was truly real. As if he were truly about to see his loved ones once again. Merlin was wondering the same thing.

“Are you ready?” Freya asked him, squeezing his hand in support. When Merlin nodded, she reached out in front of Arthur and pushed open the grand doors.

Music immediately began to fill Merlin’s ears, and laughter danced around him. Freya gave him a small nudge, and let go his hand. She walked in front of him and made her way to a young couple and a small girl and boy. It took Merlin a moment to realize that this was her family. He found a smile painting his face, as he realized with glee that she had been reunited with them.

“You first,” Merlin whispered to Arthur.

“What? Why me?” There he was asking questions again.

“You’re their king,” Merlin explained.

“You’re their friend,” Arthur retorted.

Merlin gave Arthur a smile, “as are you.”

Arthur took a deep breath, and took a large step into the room. Almost immediately all the chatter and laughter stopped.

Merlin could see Gwen from where he was, and noticed her putting a shaky hand to her mouth. Arthur noticed this as well. 

The two ran for each other and Arthur gave her a passionate kiss. A moment of silence passed, then people made way to Arthur and Merlin. Of those people, it was Lancelot, Leon, Elyan, Percival, Gwen, and Gwaine that he had missed the most.

As he made his way around the room, saying hello to everybody, his eyes landed on a familiar face that he probably should’ve been enraged to see here, but found no anger and resentment in him. After all, had he not pushed them away they might’ve turned out differently.

“Mordred,” Merlin spoke first.

“Merlin,” Mordred said awkwardly. A hand was on his shoulder, and that was when Merlin noticed a man standing behind Mordred. His father. “I’m sorry.”

“As am I,” Merlin told him, regret clear in his voice. “I let what would happen in the future get to my head, and because of that I treated you terribly. You did not deserve to be treated as I treated you.”

Mordred smiled at Merlin, then walked away towards Arthur. Merlin noticed as Mordred tensed up when he tapped Arthur’s shoulder, but he was pleased when instead of yelling at Mordred, and telling him to leave, Arthur simply hugged Mordred.

Merlin walked around a few more minutes before he finally found who he truly wanted to see. 

“My favorite meal,” Merlin said with glee. “You remembered.”

“Merlin, that’s my food!” 

Merlin locked eyes with Gaius, and both their faces broke out into a grin, just as they had done so many times before. A second passed, and soon they were hugging. 

“I missed you,” Merlin said, not being able to stop a tear from rolling down his face. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come back. I should’ve come

“I missed you as well, my boy,” Gaius said, not stopping his own teats either. “You have no need to apologize. I understand why you did not return. I am just happy you’re here now.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so you may be wondering why Mordred was in the afterlife and Morgana wasn't. This is because Morgana had multiple chances to redeem herself and turn back, she didn’t have to stay bad, especially after Uther had died. She still went on with her evil plans.  
> Mordred, however, didn’t turn until the girl he loved died. He was filled with grief when he turned to Morgana, and I don’t think he should tormented for all of his afterlife since he was just a boy and made some mistakes. In my opinion, he regretted what he did in his final moments.
> 
> Also, if anyone was wondering, Uther did not make it to a peaceful afterlife 😌


End file.
